Urban Garden Cafe

Urban Garden piqued my curiosity when I heard Winston (The Hungry Excavator) declaring that they’ve got the best char koay teow in Melbourne. So we organised a little bloggers’ catchup a few weeks later with (his truly) Winston, Fakegf (The Hangry Bitch) and Leaf (The Indolent Cook).

Urban Garden is quite hidden… it’s located in the basement of a student apartment building (Arrow on Swanston). Just climb down a flight a stairs from the lobby…

… and you’ll be led into a spacious cafe with a book section, sofas and a pool table. It’s a place where you can see students relaxing with their laptops, reading, catching up, studying. I also like how the smell of stir fry and cooking doesn’t permeate the whole place.

Teh Tarik Iced 3.50 | Fresh Soy Milk 3.00

In typical Winston-style, he knows the people at this joint. In fact, he’s followed the cook from his previous venue in Lygon St (My Cube) to here… that’s loyalty for you!

Lorbak w. Sweet Hoisin Sauce 3.00Marinated chicken wrapped with bean curdRoti Canai w. Curry 3.00Deliciously made Indian flatbread, made to be dipped in a cup of our lovely curry

We started off with a few shared entrees. First thing we noticed about this joint was its student friendly prices. For instance, $3 for roti canai…!!

Even the main dishes remained below $10. And we quite enjoyed them, both the fried rice and char kway teow had a lot of wok charring, giving a nice flavour dimension. It’s still not like the CKT I’m used to eating back home, but pretty close enough.

Fakegf of course wanted to try the Assam Laksa, a spicy-tangy aromatic fish noodle soup from Penang. The dish used the correct condiments and noodles (other places use Japanese udon) and its broth had a lot of body and flavour. I liked it and it’d be even more awesome if it was spicier.

I believe we shared all the dessert dishes from the menu, with the ice kacang the least exciting of them. The shaved ice was on the coarse side and they could’ve used more syrup and milk. But Leaf and I enjoyed eating the sea coconut at the bottom.

The other two desserts were very good. My companions enjoyed the smooth pannacotta. And while the durian brûlée had a grainy texture, I was very happy that it had fresh durian inside, complete with the soft fibres from the fruit. I’d order this again anytime!

I like the hidden, quiet ambience at Urban Garden and they have some good dishes there. I’ll be back on days when I want a touch of comforting hawker-style food.

ShanDong MaMa

The next venue is a pretty popular dumpling spot that has recently opened inside Chinatown’s Mid City Arcade.

The buzz for this place has been pretty palpable across the board between my friends and foodie network. I’m glad I finally got to visit this place with Jonty, who’d been here a number of times and knows what to order. There was already a queue starting at 6pm on a Tuesday, but we got a table quickly.

Eight Treasures Tea 2.5 | Scallion Pancake 6.8 (2pcs)

We ordered these cleansing, ingredient-filled teas to go with the dumplings. And started with a serve of spring onion pancakes, which had crisp outsides but with somewhat dense, thickish insides.

I believe the restaurant’s style of dumplings come from the eastern province of Shandong in China, and one of the most popular dishes at Shandong is the mackerel fish dumplings. Freshly homemade (presumably by the mama herself), these steamed fish dumplings tasted really soft and gossamer smooth. Beautiful.

We paired the steamed dumplings with fried chicken dumplings that contained a herb I’ve not heard of before – shepherd’s purse. I enjoyed these dumplings too, great filling and it would’ve been even better if they were pan fried a bit crispier and more evenly.

The menu is pretty big there and I really liked their dumplings. The way I see it (and I’m no huge authority on dumplings), the hugely popular Shanghai Street Dumpling in Lt Bourke St serves good standard dumpling fare, but Shandong Mama walks you into regional China with their (never seen before) yummy dumplings. I’ll be back to try more!

Hahahha what do you mean it’s typical fashion of me to know the ppl lol! That’s what you get for being a big mouth like me hahaha. No, but the ppl there are friendly and put a lot of heart into what they do, so I always make sure they know I appreciate their efforts. I really enjoyed this meal with you guys that night! We got to try such a wide variety and thoroughly enjoyed the food a lot, glad to hear you guys did too. Def a good place to keep in mind for easy, fuss free and cheap meals. Want to order the Assam Laksa and Pandan Ninja again. Oh, and GREAT GREAT photos here, Bryan!!